Caroline Flint: In July last year, the Government published a prospectus outlining its intention to build up to ten "eco-towns".
	Eco-towns are a response to the twin challenges of an acute housing shortage and climate change. They will test out new ways of designing and building towns to achieve zero carbon standards and promote more sustainable living.
	The eco-towns prospectus outlined the criteria for a successful eco-town:
	(i) That they should be new settlements of between 5,000 and 20,000 homes, separate and distinct from existing towns, but well linked to them;
	(ii) The development as a whole should reach zero carbon standards, and each town should be an exemplar in at least one area of environmental sustainability;
	(iii) It should include a good range of facilities—a secondary school, a medium scale retail centre, good quality business space and leisure facilities;
	(iv) Between 35 per cent. of the housing should be affordable, with a particular emphasis on larger family homes;
	(v) There should be a management body to help develop the town, support people and businesses moving to the new community, and to co-ordinate service delivery.
	In response to our invitation, we received 57 proposals for eco-towns. There has been a rigorous cross-Government assessment of these bids, particularly focusing on the existing transport infrastructure and local environment. We have also looked at the likely benefits to existing communities, the contribution the eco-town would make to local housing needs, and the likelihood of the proposal being successfully delivered.
	We are today publishing a short-list of 15 locations which will go through to the next stage of consultation. These are:
	Pennbury, Leicestershire: 12,000 to 15,000 homes on a development incorporating brownfield, greenfield and surplus public sector land four miles south east of Leicester.
	Manby and Strubby, Lincolnshire: 5,000 homes, largely on brownfield land including a former RAF base. The nearest town is Mablethorpe.
	Curborough, Staffordshire: 5,000 homes on the brownfield site of the former Fradley airfield, 10 miles from Burton.
	Middle Quinton, Warwickshire: 6,000 homes on a former Royal Engineers depot, six miles south west of Stratford upon Avon.
	Bordon-Whitehill, Hampshire: 5,000 to 8,000 homes on a site owned by the Ministry of Defence. The nearest town is Guildford.
	Weston Otmoor, Oxfordshire: 10,000 to 15,000 homes on brownfield land. Three miles south west of Bicester.
	Ford, West Sussex: 5,000 homes on a site which includes the former Ford airfield. The nearest town is Littlehampton.
	Imerys China Clay Community, Cornwall: Around 5,000 homes to be built on former china clay workings, industrial land and disused mining pits. Close to St. Austell.
	Rossington, South Yorkshire: Up to 15,000 homes regenerating the former colliery village of Rossington, three miles south of Doncaster
	Coltishall, Norfolk: 5,000 homes on a former RAF airfield, eight miles north of Norwich.
	Hanley Grange, Cambridgeshire: 8,000 homes, incorporating a former science park.
	Marston Vale and New Marston, Bedfordshire: Up to 15,400 homes, on both brown and greenfield land south of Bedford.
	Elsenham, Essex: At least 5,000 homes north east of the existing Elsenham village.
	Rushcliffe, Nottinghamshire: An eco-town proposal was submitted for Kingston-on- Soar, to the south of Nottingham. In response to representations from Rushcliffe Borough Council (RBC), this site is not to be pursued. However, the Government are proposing to carry out a further review in partnership with RBC to consider whether there is a suitable alternative location with the potential to be viable within the Rushcliffe local authority area.
	Leeds City Region, Yorkshire: A number of eco-town proposals were submitted for locations within the area of Leeds City Region partnership of 11 authorities and principally between Leeds and Selby. The Leeds City Region Partnership has indicated support in principle for an eco-town within the sub-region. The Partnership has proposed a further study to compare the best alternative locations across the Leeds City Region partnership area. The Government have agreed to support this approach, on the basis that it will allow a further announcement to be made shortly of one or more sites for consultation.
	These potential locations have been published as part of a consultation document "Eco-towns—Living A Greener Future", inviting views on both the broader objectives and benefits of eco-towns, and on those locations which we regard as the most promising.
	We will also be looking at the proposed schemes from promoters and we expect each proposal to be further refined and improved over the coming months. We will be looking for clear evidence that each scheme:
	achieves the highest possible environmental standards, not only mitigating the impact of development, but positively enhancing the site, as well as reducing the need for residents to rely on cars;
	is clearly deliverable, with funding identified and proper management arrangements set out;
	is affordable, with a clearly agreed basis for contributions from private investors and public sector agencies.
	A panel of experts will advise and challenge those leading the proposals to improve the environmental credentials of each project. Government will also be providing support to the relevant local authorities, comparable to the support on offer to local authorities designated as growth points or growth areas. We will continue to work in partnership with local government and the LGA as we move forward.
	This consultation is the first of four key stages in the planning process for eco-towns.
	Stage One: Three month consultation on preliminary views on eco-town benefits and these shortlisted locations;
	Stage Two: Further consultation this summer on a sustainability appraisal, which provides a more detailed assessment of these locations, and a draft planning policy statement;
	Stage Three: A decision on the list of locations with the potential to be an eco-town as part of the final planning policy statement, later this year;
	Stage Four: Like any other proposed development, individual schemes will need to submit planning applications which will be decided on the merits of the proposal.
	Our objective is for five eco-towns to be completed by 2016, and up to ten by 2020. We expect work to begin on some sites by 2010.

Jacqui Smith: In a statement to Parliament on the 14 November 2007, Official Report, column 667, my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister announced a wide range of measures to counter terrorism, increase the resilience of communities to resist extremism and to strengthen our borders. The statement announced the decision to establish a UK Border Agency, a global organisation that will improve the UK's security through stronger border protection while welcoming legitimate travellers and trade.
	The new UK Border Agency is today established as a shadow agency of the Home Office. The agency's purpose and objectives are set out in its first business plan which I am laying in the House today. That purpose is clear: it is to secure our border and control migration for the benefit of our country; protecting our borders and national interests; preventing border tax fraud, smuggling and immigration crime; and implementing decisions quickly and fairly.
	The UK Border Agency will unite the work of the Border and Immigration Agency, Customs detection work at the border from Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and UKVisas from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), to create an organisation with a budget of over £2 billion, 25,000 staff, and operating in local communities, at our borders, and across 135 countries worldwide. The agency will deploy unprecedented power in pursuit of its goals.
	The new agency will deliver new powers to front line officers. I can announce that by the summer we will have cross conferred customs and immigration powers on over 1,000 front line staff. In addition, staff in England and Wales will be equipped with police-like powers as set out in the UK Borders Act. Passengers and goods will now be checked at a single primary line. Uniformed UK Border Agency officers will protect the UK searching for signs of smuggled goods or immigration abuse and will have new powers to improve their ability to detain suspected law breakers. Legislation to provide for full integration of customs staff will be presented to the House shortly. Wider powers demand tough accountability. The Independent Police Complaints Commission has therefore taken over investigation of individual cases from 25 February and we intend to appoint an independent inspector of the UKBA shortly.
	Further, the new agency will unlock a new relationship with 1,600 uniformed police officers at ports and airports and the UK's 1,400 Special Branch officers for whom funding has been increased to around £75 million. Today I am placing in the Library of the House a new framework of co-operation between the police in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The framework establishes strategic direction for intelligence sharing and delivery of frontline operations.
	In a response to a recommendation in the Cabinet Office report "Security in a Global Hub—Establishing the UK's New Border Agency Arrangements" published last November, the Home Office is working with the Association of Chief Police Officers for England, Wales and Northern Ireland to consider how policing—which is currently delivered by the local force for each port and airport—may be best organised to deliver a fuller level of integration at the border, taking into consideration the drive for greater collaboration which is at the heart of the Governments programme for improving protective services.
	We are discussing with the Scottish Devolved Administration and the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland ways of strengthening working relationships between the Scottish police service and the new agency taking into account the devolved nature of policing in Scotland.
	By working in partnership with HMRC and the FCO, the UK Border Agency will contribute to the collection of £22 billion in tax revenue and the facilitation of international trade worth £600 billion per annum.
	The agency will be more powerful than today's separate forces and will therefore deliver on tougher targets. It will:
	Expel 5,000 FNPs from Britain, up from 4,200 last year.
	Sustain last year's increase in the seizure of class A drugs by seizing at least 2,400 kg of cocaine and 550 kg of heroin by April 2009.
	Increase by 50 per cent. the number of asylum cases concluded in less than six months.
	Extend the UK's visas regime to cover a larger proportion of the world's population.
	Increase our detention capacity by 20 per cent. over the next two years to help us increase the number of immigration offenders we can remove from the country.
	Lin Homer as chief executive will be supported by a board including an HMRC Commissioner, Mike Eland, a senior FCO representative, James Bevan and a senior police representative, Roger Baker, the Chief Constable of Essex.
	I am also placing in the Library of the House a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the Home Office and the FCO which underpins the move of UKVisas into the new global agency.
	The MOU sets out the respective commitments of the Home Office and the FCO. It details the financial, resource and management framework within which the UK Border Agency's overseas operations will function. From today UK Border Agency's overseas staff, drawn from the FCO, the Home Office and from external organisations will work as an integrated team to achieve the Government's objectives for immigration and border security.
	Finally on 1 April my hon. Friends the Minister of State for Borders and Immigration (Liam Byrne), and the Minister for the Middle East (Dr. Kim Howells) wrote to the Home Affairs and Foreign Affairs Select Committees outlining the new procedures for dealing with correspondence on visa-related matters. On the same day my right hon. Friend the Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Jane Kennedy) wrote to the Treasury Select Committee about procedures for dealing with correspondence relating to frontier detection. I am placing a copy of these letters in the Library of the House today.

Stephen Timms: The Government is committed to continuing its work to eradicate child poverty and help all individuals reach their full potential by moving from unemployment and welfare dependency to paid work.
	We announced in the command paper "Ready for Work: Full Employment in our Generation" our intention to require lone parents with older children who can work to look for work. This means that lone parents will no longer be entitled to income support solely on the grounds of being a lone parent. Instead, those who are able to look for paid work will make a claim for jobseeker's allowance and be required to seek suitable employment actively.
	We announced our expectation that this change would be introduced from October 2008 for lone parents with a youngest child aged 12 or over, and then from October 2009 and October 2010 when the youngest child turns 10 and 7 respectively.
	I now intend that the arrangements for new and repeat lone parent customers with a youngest child of 12 or over will take affect a month later, in November 2008, to allow time to consider some additional flexibilities to jobseeker's allowance. The Government have been working closely with a range of groups who represent the interests of lone parents and has had early advice from the Social Security Advisory Committee. Additional flexibilities to jobseeker's allowance have been suggested to meet the specific needs of lone parents.
	The Government intend to take forward a number of these suggestions in connection with proposals for regulations that I will provide to the Social Security Advisory Committee. I believe that the proposals will strike the right balance to ensure that jobseeker's allowance remains focused on helping people look for paid work while accommodating the varied and individual circumstances that lone parents will face.
	As has been discussed with lone parent stakeholder groups, we intend that existing lone parent recipients of income support with a youngest child aged 12 or over will be progressively moved from income support from early 2009.